This invention relates to containers, and more specifically, plastic containers. The container described herein may be applied to any use, but is particularly useful as a paint container.
Steel paint pails with a friction fit lid have been a standard in the paint industry for many years. However, with the development of latex paints, steel containers are no longer desirable because of corrosion problems with the containers. Consequently, the use of plastic in paint containers has been developed to replace steel containers. These include containers that utilize a plastic lower portion with a crimp-on steel ring. However, such designs still have a corrosion problem.
All plastic containers are well known in the art. For example, the following patents disclose all plastic containers and lid arrangements: U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,563 to Holt, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,293,080 and 4,349,119 to letica, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,494 to Von Holdt.
The first three of the above referrenced patents disclose two piece containers wherein the lid interlocks around and outside the upper lid of the bottom container portion. This design has proven to be disadvantageous because the lids and containers cannot be used with existing canning machinery designed for steel containers. The lids are too large in diameter and, therefore, will not fit the lid machinery that feeds the container line. The container is not acceptable because of the increased height required to offset the volume decrease caused by the necked-in reinforced section of the container.
The Van Holdt patent discloses a container which more nearly approximates the design of standard steel paint cans. However, due to the inner extension required at the upper circumference of the container, this design requires a complex and expensive mold apparatus, such as internally collapsible mold core, for the lower portion of the container.